Anonymous hacks BJP sites, calls for protests on 9 June

Hacker group Anonymous is continuing with its campaign against Internet censorship in India. The latest victim of the attacks are the BJP and its websites. The group announced on its new Twitter account @opindia_back saying that www.mumbaibjp.org and www.bjpmp.org.in had been hacked. The group also posted a message to web users, asking them to organise protests against “web censorship” in India on 9 June. On Saturday, it was Reliance net users who had to face the wrath of the hacker group. Users of the service provider were unable to access Facebook and Twitter and instead were redirected to a page containing a strongly worded statement against attempts by the Indian government to censor the Internet. [caption id=“attachment_322843” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The BJP attack message.”]  [/caption] The week before that it was the Congress and the Supreme Court website that were bought down in retaliation for India’s new Internet laws and the blocking of websites like The Pirate Bay and Vimeo. Reliance has blocked these websites for its users after a John Doe order was obtained by Copyright Labs, Chennai, from the Madras High Court, for preventing piracy of Tamil Films Dammu and 3. Anonymous’s initial Twitter account @OpIndia_Revenge was shut down and the group created a new one called opindia_back. The latest attack has sparked a debate on on their Twitter feed as to why they hacked the BJP website. According to the Anonymous, they did it because as the opposition, the BJP should have stood up against the Web censorship. But many on Twitter were asking the logic of attacking the opposition and whether it would actually be effective when its the Congress and the UPA govt that crying hoarse against social media freedoms. Anonymous has also announced protests  in all major cities in India on 9 June. The Mumbai event’s Facebook page reads, Occupy Mumbai #protest for internet freedom (File Sharing Websites Blocked). It goes on to say

The Government of India is shielding its ministers who are involved in corruption scandals. The Government plans to keep you ignorant about its tricks. Every citizen of India is required to be wearing Anonymous’ (Fawkes) mask and assemble in the streets for a peaceful protest on 9th June. Wear black head to toe, download and print Anonymous face mask and wear it. Target public places to get maximum attention: outside malls, in markets, in front of your MP’s House. Bring your friends & family. Share the date, share the information, inform the press and media. Strength is in numbers: no matter how old you are, where you live, whatever you do, come out of your homes wearing the Anonymous mask. Change your Display Pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc to the Anonymous logo marking the date 9th June. Walk in public transport wearing Anonymous masks. On 9th June 2012 the government will see its citizens rise.

Occupy protests with protesters showing up in Guy Fawkes masks have been fairly popular in USA, Germany, Spain etc where the youth have often come to protest their governments. The Guy Fawkes mask were made famous in the iconic Alan Moore comic, V for Vendetta. While some might find the idea of a Guy Fawkes protest in India highly improbable, it is evident that India’s netizens are angry at the way the government has been trying to curb Internet freedom. The anger has been enough to create Facebook pages and tweet. Whether this anger actually translates into something more is what remains to be seen.